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Feds Warn States to Keep Pot Away From Kids After Giving Green Light to Marijuana

August 30, 2013 7:21 AM

OAKLAND, CA - JULY 22: A bud grows on a marijuana plant at Oaksterdam University July 22, 2009 in Oakland, California. Voters in Oakland, California overwhelmingly approved a measure during a vote-by-mail special election for a special tax on sales of medicinal marijuana at the city's four cannabis dispenseries. The new tax rate of $18.00 per $1,000 in sales, up from $1.20 per $1,000, will generate an estimated $294,000 for the financially strapped city. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Marijuana plant. (credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

LANHAM, Md. (CBSDC/AP) — The federal government now says states can let people grow, use and buy marijuana. The Justice Department, however, wants assurances the drug will be kept away from minors and from reaching other states that prohibit its use.

Officials in Washington and Colorado, the two states that legalized marijuana last year, are working to address federal concerns as they set up their retail systems. Colorado’s is due to open Jan. 1, and Washington’s sometime next year.

A medical marijuana program was recently implemented in Washington, D.C. with the first dispensary opening its doors this summer.

These are the eight issues the Justice Department says must be addressed by states:

—Preventing marijuana from getting to minors.

—Keeping money from marijuana sales from going to criminal enterprises, gangs and cartels.

—Preventing pot from states where it’s legal from getting into states where it remains illegal.

—Preventing state-authorized marijuana activity from being used as a cover for trafficking in other illegal drugs or activity.

—Preventing violence and the use of firearms in the growing and distribution of pot.

—Preventing people from driving while stoned and other “adverse public health consequences associated with marijuana use.”

—Preventing marijuana from being grown on public lands.

—Preventing pot possession on federal property.

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